The Tuesday Takedown 11.20.07
Posted by Adam Morgan on 11.20.2007
In this week's edition of The Tuesday Takedown, we'll take a look at who Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko may be fighting next, a look back at UFC 78, when Kimbo Slice will be stepping back into the cage, and much more!
UFC Quips and Quotes
UFC 78 Thoughts
Michael Bisping needs to move down to middleweight. As soon as possible. Before he takes another L in the light heavyweight division. The guy is a small light heavyweight and he would be a pretty big 185er. He could go down a weight class and be the bully instead of getting bullied. That being said, he fought well at UFC 78 and gave Rashad a tough fight. Not an exciting fight, but a tough one nonetheless. Still, though, Bisping would benefit from going down in weight.
It's official: Rashad Evans is boring. Absolutely one of the most boring fighters in the UFC today. If Rashad can take you down, he's liable to stay just active enough that you don't get stood up. If you do end up getting stood up, it's likely that he will try for another takedown. I'm ready for someone to knee this fuckin' guy in the face on his way in for a shot. Rashad is one of the best wrestlers in the UFC, but when he gets it to the ground he does nothing to advance position or mount any kind of offense. One of these days we will rid MMA of the ten point must system. On that day, fighters like Rashad will have to change their styles.
Neither Bisping or Evans is a Top 5 light heavyweight. Despite Dana White's best efforts at trying to push the notion that the winner of Bisping/Evans cracks into the Top 5 light heavyweights in the world, these two guys clearly proved that they're nowhere close to Top 5. Do they have potential? Yes. Do they stand a snowball's chance in hell against Rampage Jackson? Hell no.
Houston Alexander was exposed. I conducted an interview with Houston a few months back where he told me that he thought his ground game was "as good as anyone in the UFC." I thought he might have been stretching the truth a little bit, but it turns out he had very little ground game at all. Houston looked clueless when Silva mounted him with ease and began to rain down bombs. Alexander didn't try any escapes, didn't try to buck Silva, didn't try to control his posture, and paid the price for his lack of experience on the ground. In today's game you cannot be one dimensional. Houston needs to strap on a gi and train jiu jitsu extensively.
Karo Parisyan is getting a bad rap. He fought a very strong technical fight against a tough, well trained, experienced opponent and everyone's screaming about how he can't finish a fight. While it didn't make for the most exciting fight, Ryo Chonan is a very tough guy to finish and he's very dangerous on his feet and on the ground. He must have trained extensively with Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and some other judokas to defend Karo's judo throws the way he did. Karo usually throws everyone at least once and Chonan was having none of it. With the way the title picture is right now in the welterweight division, Karo will need at least one more win under his belt before getting a shot at the title.
Ed Herman is blah. While he's come a long way from his time on The Ultimate Fighter, Herman still has a long way to go before he thinks about contending for a title in the UFC. He almost got choked out at the very end of the second round and he's lucky the bell rang. His striking looked better, but nowhere near what I would call technical. It was a good win over a game opponent for Herman, but he needs more training and more experience in the cage if he plans on contending.
Frankie Edgar's no fluke. How impressed were you with the ease with which Frankie Edgar was able to take down Spencer Fisher? This guy has a natural wrestling ability, great takedowns, and fantastic top control. Fisher had no answer for Edgar on the ground. Fisher is known to have a good guard and dangerous submissions but he spent the entire fight trying to get back to full guard. Edgar was active, active, active. He has a motor that will not stop. Get this kid some submissions and he will be a force on the ground. Two more fights against top lightweight contenders and Edgar is in line for a title shot.
In other UFC news..
Dan Henderson will face Anderson Silva on March 1st, 2008
Finally, another dream matchup has come to fruition. The PRIDE middleweight champion versus the UFC middleweight champion. Henderson is the one fighter right now who I think can beat Anderson Silva. While Anderson is a complete beast, Henderson has a wrestling game and top control the likes of which Silva has never seen before. This should be an unbelievable fight and one that hardcores have been clamoring for for the last couple of months.
Dana White missed his meeting with Randy Couture
Dana White thought his meeting with Randy Couture was going to be today. Apparently the meeting was scheduled for last Tuesday. How the hell do you overlook something like this? Your biggest star is disgruntled with the company and has agreed to sit down to try to settle their differences and you just blow him off? No wonder Couture talks about "always swimming upstream" with the UFC and Zuffa. This is just the kind of thing that I'm sure Couture is talking about.
Corey Hill is returning to the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 12
Well, technically he's making his UFC debut, but we all know he's fought in the cage before. The lively contestant from The Ultimate Fighter 5 is rumored to be facing Joe Veres, who just recently got KO'd by another lightweight from TUF 5, Gray Maynard. I'm excited to see Corey Hill make his return. He showed a strong work ethic and a massive amount of potential on the reality show. His size is unprecedented for the weight class so hopefully he's been training his ass off.
Other happenings in MMA...
Fedor to fight on New Year's Eve in Japan?
The possibility of Fedor fighting on New Year's Eve in Japan has been rumored for the past couple of weeks. It's looking more and more like this could be the case. The opponent? An unknown at this point, but rumors are swirling that it may be Choi Hong-Man, the 7' 2'' K-1 fighter from South Korea. Really? Choi Hong-Man? While this isn't a given for Fedor, it's far from anything that would make me want to keep him at the top of my pound for pound and heavyweight rankings. Even a convincing win over Choi does nothing for me. I understand that this could be a big money fight in Japan and that it's being billed as Fedor's goodbye to Japan and the PRIDE organization, but it's becoming clearer day by day that Fedor is about one thing: money. He doesn't care to fight the best and cement his legacy. Fedor's losing his luster on a daily basis.
Kimbo Slice will return in February
Kimbo Slice made the announcement that he will be fighting on an EliteXC card in February. Kind of weak if you ask me. He didn't break a sweat against Bo Cantrell and we have to wait another four months to see him in the cage again? The only good thing about this is that he gets to spend more time in the gym with Bas Rutten which can only lead to positive things.
Quick Strikeforce Thoughts
Allistair Overeem looked dominant. Overeem used very little of his dangerous outside striking and won everything in the clinch and on the ground. He stayed away from Buentello's uppercuts and power shots, and closed the distance. On the ground he controlled Buentello and even had Buentello in a pretty nasty vice/guillotine choke at one point. Good fight for Overeem and I'm excited to see him fight again.
Jorge Santiago was obviously going to win the middleweight tourney. After he used less than 30 seconds to knockout Sean Salmon, it was clear that he had the advantage going into the second fight. After Trevor Prangley fought a pretty rough and tumble fight with Niki Vitale, it was even more obvious that Santiago would be the favorite going into the finals. Santiago's glass chin survived and he ended Prangley early. A couple decent wins for Santiago, but he's nowhere close to "elite" at middleweight.
Cung Le challenged Frank Shamrock. And Frank accepted. While I want to see this fight, I don't think Cung Le stands much of a chance. He needs at least another year inside the cage before he thinks about beating Shamrock. Shamrock is too experienced and too good to lose to Cung Le, so I'm not sure why Strikeforce is trying to rush this fight.
Gilbert Melendez vs. Josh Thomson announced for Strikeforce 8, March 29th, 2008.
Huge fight for Strikeforce, one that could really help put them on the map. Two of the best lightweights in the world squaring off for a title. You can't ask for much more than that. These two guys love to scrap so I expect this one to be a barn burner.
